Rising above ethnic, language and religious differences, Sri Lankan voters pushed the National People’s Power alliance to a landslide victory, giving the NPP of president Anura Kumara Dissanayake a total of 141 seats out of a possible 225 on Friday (November 15).

The NPP expected to obtain a two-third majority. A total of 196 seats were decided by direct election in the country’s proportional representation system with the remaining 26 members to Parliament being selected by eligible parties through a national list. With the NPP expected to gain 18 out of the 26 national list seats, their tally is expected to go upto 159 seats.

Amit Baruah, an independent journalist, is in conversation with Ahilan Kadirgamar, senior lecturer of the Jaffna University and B. Skanthakumar, co-editor of the Polity Magazine.

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